Stocks lost altitude into the close as traders digested Powell’s message from yesterday and took a cooler look at mega cap leadership ahead of tonight’s tech prints. The Nasdaq led to the downside while the S&P 500 and Dow slipped, a reversal from earlier in the week when AI strength papered over softer breadth. The tone matched the Fed’s: relief that a cut arrived, caution that another is not promised. Powell’s line that further easing is “far from assured” kept a lid on exuberance and nudged positioning toward patience.

Overseas currents did not help the mood. The BOJ stuck to its script and the yen weakened, a reminder that global policy is no longer marching in lockstep and that carry trades still matter for risk. Meanwhile, gold firmed and crude was mixed as the market weighed a tentative U.S.–China truce against the reality that supply chains and export controls do not turn on a dime. The Busan headlines offered optics and a tariff trim, but little that changes next quarter’s earnings math.

At home the story was simple. Tech fatigue set in after the post-FOMC pop, breadth narrowed, and traders moved to the sidelines to see if results from the mega platforms can re-ignite momentum or confirm that leadership is wobbling. Late in the session, Amazon did come to the rescue. The e-commerce and cloud giant beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines, with AWS growth re-accelerating to 16%... potentially reigniting AI optimism heading into tomorrow.

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In Alpha in Academia’s latest, readers are treated to a curated lineup of fresh papers covering financial markets, economics, and quantitative finance. Among the usual fare of macro-factors and factor models, two studies stand out for options traders: both focus on zero-day options (0DTE) strategies and their implications for market liquidity and flow.

One study examines how heavy use of 0DTE options by retail and algorithmic players shifts risk to dealers, altering gamma hedging dynamics and potentially amplifying short-term volatility. The second looks at how the influx of these ultra-short-dated contracts correlates with cross-asset liquidity drains during market stress… suggesting 0DTE flows can morph from “smart option trade” into a market-microstructure lever. For traders, the takeaway is two-fold: the rise of 0DTE is reshaping short-horizon risk and means standard assumptions about volatility decoupling may be outdated.

Don’t dismiss the academic research here as either too theoretical or too slow. These papers underscore a structural change: when even quiet earnings days or thin sessions coincide with heavy 0DTE flow, the market’s “invisible lever” may twitch. Being aware of this means positioning not just for fundamental triggers, but for flow-driven shocks. Keep a finger on option open interest, gamma profiles, and funding metrics… Because when shorts unwind or gamma rolls shift, what looks like a regular day trade can turn into a micro-quake.

On this episode of Goldman Sachs “Exchanges” podcast, commodities expert Daan Struyven unpacks why gold, oil and rare-earth minerals are no longer just side themes but frontline issues for portfolios. Gold’s move has shifted from safe-haven flashpoint to structural hedge as central banks ramp up buying. Meanwhile oil is riding a confluence of sanctions, supply-chain bottlenecks and geopolitical premium that defies simple demand logic. And rare earths, long considered a niche concern, are now the linchpin in the U.S.–China tech war, thanks to their critical role in magnets, batteries and defence hardware. 

But Struyven issues a warning as much as an opportunity. The narrative around “energy quiet” and “soft landing” is at risk of missing the structural plumbing in commodities. Rare-earth supply chains, for example, are still squarely anchored in China, which means any policy or export shock gets magnified. Oil’s risk has shifted from general “demand recovery” to “systemic supply choke” just as new sources struggle to scale. As for gold: it’s behaving more like prime real estate than a traditional commodity… accumulating quietly while most focus on the flashy themes.

For traders and investors that means the tilt isn’t just “more commodities” but “different commodities”. The winners may not be the obvious producers but those who control the choke points like refining, access, processing, logistics. And with inflation, currency and policy shifts all in motion, commodities could re-emerge not just as hedges but as drivers of the next cycle. Don’t treat gold’s rise or oil’s bounce as mere carry trades; they may be navigation tools for a deeper structural shift.

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Halloween and the end of October brings the highly anticipated release of the PCE Price Index ( the U.S. inflation gauge favored by the Federal Reserve), scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET. Given the backdrop of the Fed’s cautious stance and the market’s readiness to price in rate cuts, a print above expectations could force a hawkish shift and jolt yields and the dollar.

On the earnings front, today’s Amazon earnings beat is one data point that could reset the tone for tomorrow’s open. Tomorrow’s calendar is otherwise lighter for mega caps… but still worth watching for smaller plays. The combination of inflation data plus even modest earnings surprises or guidance shifts could rewrite the positioning into next week.

With inflation back in focus and earnings now winding down for the week, the market will likely reaction-check whether the “soft landing plus liquidity” story still holds. Traders should keep size moderate, expect heightened sensitivity to any inflation upside, and watch yields, the dollar and speculative tech closely for early signs of rotation.